An alternative slogan if you don't like that one: Someone has to win this crappy division(from alnorth)

With the beginning of a new year, it is time for the 2012 version of the Royals Repository Thread. We've got Hosmer, we've got a 2011-dominating Gordon, we've got Moose, we've got hopefully a killer bullpen, we've got a stereotypical slow slugging DH, we've got easily one of the best defensive shortstops in the AL, we've got a promising catcher in Salvador Perez. Hell, we've got offense and promising prospects galore.

We do not have starting pitching.

Oh yeah, we've also got this:

Get ready for, (as of January 2012 anyway), one of the most confusing puzzles of a baseball season in recent Royals history. Will they suck? Maybe, I don't know. Will we be given a year of 0.500 baseball? Possibly, I don't know. Will they win the division and go to the playoffs for the first time in 27 years? For the first time in a long time, it could happen, I don't know. 92 losses, 92 wins, or anything in between would not surprise a lot of us.

Everything goes here except Gameday threads and really big news. If a giant story breaks, the Royals achieve some awesome milestone, or we sign/lose a highly significant player/coach/mascot/whatever, then it might also deserve its own thread. This being Chiefs Planet, please do not clutter the board with new threads about trivial Royals news or you will only annoy those who come here for just Chiefs football. If you aren't sure and its not a Gameday thread, it goes here.

What sort of stuff often goes here? SPchief explained it well, so I'll just copy that:

Quote:

If you locate something of interest.. ANYTHING.. deals on apparel, best ways in/out of the stadium, giveaways, great stories from this season or from seasons gone by, rumors, trades, anything.... feel free to post it here.

Butler has a friendly contract for what he produces, I fully agree. I'm merely pointing out that 28M is a lot more than 1M that Bundy would cost over that same time frame. I don't know that Bundy would produce the 10+ WAR that Billy would but in dollar terms, it's hard to see how he wouldn't be a better value.

Of course, that assumes Bundy doesn't flame out like many prospects do. That is a possibility. Butler is about as sure a bet to get 3+ WAR the next few years as anyone in the game given his age and his recent few years.

The Rays have good pitching, I'll give them that. Apart from them, there's not a single plus pitching staff in the AL East.

The best pitching in baseball is probably in the NL East, in fact there's no probably to it. The Phils, Nats and Braves all have pitching staffs that are at least the equal of the best staffs in the AL East. The 2nd best pitching in baseball is probably in the AL West, though with Haren getting injured/traded and Greinke likely leaving the division, it will take a step back.

I'm looking forward to the O's vanishing into the ether again next year just so people don't have to listen to you try to talk about a sport you're mostly just guessing at. But by all means, please continue to enlighten us as to how Derek Holland is a better trade asset than Justin Upton - you did so well last time.

Butler has a friendly contract for what he produces, I fully agree. I'm merely pointing out that 28M is a lot more than 1M that Bundy would cost over that same time frame. I don't know that Bundy would produce the 10+ WAR that Billy would but in dollar terms, it's hard to see how he wouldn't be a better value.

Of course, that assumes Bundy doesn't flame out like many prospects do. That is a possibility. Butler is about as sure a bet to get 3+ WAR the next few years as anyone in the game given his age and his recent few years.

I truly don't care about pitching prospects, however lauded.

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by badgirl

If you met me in person and didn't know who I was you would never guess it was me.

Do you believe trading players in the same division? If so, wouldn't an Alex Gordon for Delmon Young trade make since for both KC and Minn?
Keith Law (2010 1:59 PM)

I've always thought the idea that a team should pay more to acquire someone in-division was stupid. Value is value. If some team in your division offers 5% more than anyone else, take the deal. Gordon's defense at third has been shaky enough that the Twins should pause before taking that deal.

The Rays have good pitching, I'll give them that. Apart from them, there's not a single plus pitching staff in the AL East.

The best pitching in baseball is probably in the NL East, in fact there's no probably to it. The Phils, Nats and Braves all have pitching staffs that are at least the equal of the best staffs in the AL East. The 2nd best pitching in baseball is probably in the AL West, though with Haren getting injured/traded and Greinke likely leaving the division, it will take a step back.

I'm looking forward to the O's vanishing into the ether again next year just so people don't have to listen to you try to talk about a sport you're mostly just guessing at. But by all means, please continue to enlighten us as to how Derek Holland is a better trade asset than Justin Upton - you did so well last time.

First off all i said was Texas would never do that dumbass 4 way trade people came up with here.

Like most O's fans. I checked one of their fan boards and they were discussing what to trade for Butler. One person threw out a no-name young pitcher + Wilson Betemit.

Fo real. The same Betemit we basically released. Delusional fans probably think their +7 run differential made them a good team this year.

O's fans are the best about that sort of thing. I remember when Pujols was coming up on his first contract about 8 years ago. The O's fans all wanted to build packages around David Segui. You'd hear stuff like "How about Jay Gibbons, Larry Bigby, Luis Matos, Matt Riley, Rodrigo Lopez, David Segui and Kareem Garcia...."

I mean it was just brilliant. They'd take the 10 shittiest guys on their team, throw in a kid that was 22ish ("Because the Cardinals want to get younger") and act like they were doing the Cards a favor by rebuilding their team around 10 players while taking a guy the Cardinals were clearly going to lose anyway. Oh inevitably somone would claim that including Bigby or Lopez in the deal would just be giving up way too much, but for the most part they were all too happy to give up every piece of spare roster trash they had.

O's fans are the best about that sort of thing. I remember when Pujols was coming up on his first contract about 8 years ago. The O's fans all wanted to build packages around David Segui. You'd hear stuff like "How about Jay Gibbons, Larry Bigby, Luis Matos, Matt Riley, Rodrigo Lopez, David Segui and Kareem Garcia...."

I mean it was just brilliant. They'd take the 10 shittiest guys on their team, throw in a kid that was 22ish ("Because the Cardinals want to get younger") and act like they were doing the Cards a favor by rebuilding their team around 10 players while taking a guy the Cardinals were clearly going to lose anyway. Oh inevitably somone would claim that including Bigby or Lopez in the deal would just be giving up way too much, but for the most part they were all too happy to give up every piece of spare roster trash they had.

O's fans are the best about that sort of thing. I remember when Pujols was coming up on his first contract about 8 years ago. The O's fans all wanted to build packages around David Segui. You'd hear stuff like "How about Jay Gibbons, Larry Bigby, Luis Matos, Matt Riley, Rodrigo Lopez, David Segui and Kareem Garcia...."

I mean it was just brilliant. They'd take the 10 shittiest guys on their team, throw in a kid that was 22ish ("Because the Cardinals want to get younger") and act like they were doing the Cards a favor by rebuilding their team around 10 players while taking a guy the Cardinals were clearly going to lose anyway. Oh inevitably somone would claim that including Bigby or Lopez in the deal would just be giving up way too much, but for the most part they were all too happy to give up every piece of spare roster trash they had.
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This is the funniest post I've read on here in the month I've been on the board.

I looked at the Braves & Mets board. Reasonable deals everywhere. Medland + Tehran for Myers. Dickey for Cain + Ventura. Things like that. Lots of knowledge about our farm system, actually I was surprised reading how detailed the Mets fans were about our own players. Lots of interest in guys like Mondesi and Bonafacio.

O's fans? One actually wrote: "Bundy for Butler? More like Butler AND Gordon!"